Ice Storm of '98: A Retrospective

[karadax]

This recent stint of sour weather where they're not used to it reminded me of a bad one in upstate NY. It was also unprecedented and in my view worse than recent events.

Ice Storm of '98: A Retrospective

The January, 1998 Ice Storm took people by surprise, an unremarkable weather front that turned lethal when it stalled over the border country of northern New York and southeastern Canada, dropping freezing rain for an unprecedented five days.

Spotty power losses began Tuesday, January 6 in the North Country. Power was out for 1,000 electric customers in Massena. Service was restored but lost again on Wednesday as the freezing rain continued. Damage from icing on tree limbs and utility wires was widespread. Despite colder temperatures overnight Wednesday the 7th, the rain kept falling. And freezing. Utility crews began to lose the battle:"

. More at the link.

[magical thyme]

1. I think that's the storm that flattened miles and miles of trees in Canada

and parts of Maine without power for 5 weeks...

[PotatoChip]

4. We were lucky. Only went 3 days w/out power.

I think living near an elementary school was what helped in our case.

[PotatoChip]

2. I remember it well.

At one point, nearly 700K people here in Maine were w/out power. That is a big deal when you consider the fact that we only have a population of 1.2 million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Ice_Storm_of_1998

[boston bean]

3. 2008 was a bad year for ice in the northeast.

December 2008 New England and Upstate New York ice storm

The December 2008 ice storm of New England and Upstate New York was a damaging ice storm that took out power for millions of people in those regions. The storm was deemed the worst ice storm in a decade for New England[2] and the most severe in 21 years for Upstate New York.[3] Damage was primarily a result of fallen trees and fallen utility wires and poles, which were coated in a heavy layer of ice. The storm raised heavy controversy over the slow return of power, as at the storm's peak as many as 1.7 million customers were without power.[4] Days after the storm more than 800,000 customers were still without power.[5] Almost a week after the storm still more than 100,000 customers were without power, affecting the holiday shopping season and crippling the business and transportation of many northeast cities for days.[6]

snip..

Fourteen days after the storm hit, several thousand homes throughout New Hampshire were still without power,[18] which in some cases resulted in threats being made against workers of Public Service Company of New Hampshire (a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities), the principal electricity supplier of New Hampshire.

Similarly, there were many people in Massachusetts without power for up to two weeks, raising many questions about the slow response of some utility companies.[19]

Several weeks after the New England storm, a similar ice storm struck the Midwestern United States, knocking out power to a million people and leading to at least 38 deaths.[